1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to dynamically configuring a display interface to facilitate serial bus data communication between a source device and a sink device.
2. Background Art
Information handling systems generally allow data transmission between different electronic devices. For example, an information handling system may allow an exchange of data between a source device and one or more sink devices. The source device may generate a media or multimedia signal, such as video and/or audio, while the multiple sink devices can render the signal in an audio, visual, and digital manner. Industry standards such as DisplayPort®, High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), Digital Visual Interface (DVI), Universal Serial Bus (USB), and the like, specify interface protocols for connecting a source device to a sink device. Generally, in order to transfer data using each protocol, separate ports dedicated to each interface need to be included as part of the source and sink device. Thus, separate cable connectors are then needed to connect the source device and sink devices in order to support different interface protocols. This provides a problem to an end-user who wants to avoid clutter and does not want numerous cable connectors between devices. Furthermore, thin and light form factors of computing devices (e.g., very thin laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc.) reduce the amount of physical space for connectors on these devices and hence a single multi-purpose connector is preferred. Thus, what is needed is the ability to have one cable connector that is able to support different interface protocols.
DisplayPort® is a digital display interface developed by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). The DisplayPort standard provides requirements of connectors, cables, and data communication protocols for use in delivering isochronous streams of data within an information handling system. Isochronous streams of data include uncompressed digital packetized audio or video streams of data The DisplayPort includes a uni-directional main link for transporting such isochronous audio and video streams from a source device to a sink device. The main link may have 1, 2, or 4 pairs of communication channels enabled based on bandwidth limitations of the information handling system. Additionally, the DisplayPort standard provides for the bidirectional communication of control data within the information handling system over an auxiliary channel, which supports only 1 lane of communication. The DisplayPort interface is designed to support both internal chip-to-chip and external box-to-box digital display connections. Examples of internal chip-to-chip applications include usage within a laptop computer for driving a panel from a graphics controller and usage within a monitor or television for driving the display component from a display controller. Examples of box-to-box applications include display connections between a source device, e.g., a computer, and a sink device, e.g., monitors, projectors and television displays. Although the DisplayPort interface is primarily used to connect a video source to a display device, it can also be used to transmit other forms of data such as USB protocol data.
A Universal Serial Bus (USB) communication standard is a universal wired interface and protocol to enable electronic devices to exchange data. Various connectors are specified for information exchange in accordance with the standard. One or more dedicated USB ports, e.g., USB connectors, are typically employed in an electronic device. There are three basic types of connectors identified in various USB 2.0 specifications: Standard, Mini-USB, and Micro-USB connectors. In USB 3.0 specifications, two basic types of connectors are defined: standard, and micro-USB connectors. The USB port of a device is typically coupled to the USB port of another device via a cable. A USB transceiver may be employed in each device to send and receive USB protocol signals to and from the corresponding USB port devices. Examples of USB silk devices include a keyboard, mouse or external hard drive.
Although, the DisplayPort specifications indicate that the DisplayPort interface can be used to transmit USB protocol data, the DisplayPort specifications do not identify how this can be done specifically. Furthermore, current implementations of USB protocol data over the DisplayPort interface require one or more communication channels of the DisplayPort main link to be fixed to support transmission of USB data, while the remaining communication channels are dedicated to transmit video data to a display. One of the drawbacks of such a fixed configuration, for example, is that a display resolution of a sink device may suffer when there is not enough bandwidth to support both the display device requirements and a USB protocol device.
Therefore, what is needed is a technique to dynamically support the transmission of video, audio, and USB data over a display interface (such as, for example, a single DisplayPort cable) in a more intelligent way so that both audio and video data together with non-video/non-audio data over a serial bus (such as, for example, Universal Serial Bus 3.0 data) can be delivered to devices per user configuration and preference.